GENEVA (AP) – A British physician, an Ethiopian former health minister and a Pakistani expert in non-communicable diseases are the three finalists vying for the top job at the World Health Organization in its first-ever election on Tuesday, aspiring to land a key U.N. post that confers great power to set worldwide medical priorities – and great responsibility as the world’s go-to person when emergencies like Ebola, Zika and SARS strike.
For the first time, WHO’s governing body made up of 194 member states will choose from three candidates – not one pre-selected by its executive board, as in past years. The closed-door vote is perhaps the highlight event of the 10-day World Health Assembly, which will also lay out strategies on issues like the fight against polio, preparedness for pandemic flu, and antimicrobial resistance.
Many are looking for further reform at WHO after the decade-long tenure of Dr. Margaret Chan, a politically savvy native of Hong Kong whose tenure nonetheless has been blighted by a flawed response to the Ebola outbreak in three west African countries that killed more than 11,000 people.
Politics, as much as policy prescriptions, will be in the minds of many government envoys as voting begins Tuesday afternoon.
Here’s a look at the candidates for the next five-year term starting July 1: